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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. band — a ring
  3. ground — a position
  4. march — the month
  5. march — music
  6. ground — the earth
  7. lean — to bend
  8. charge — in control
  9. band — a music group
  10. march — the month
  11. net — in sport
  12. cold — an illness
  13. net — for catching
  14. charge — electricity
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. charge — a price
  17. ground — crushed
  18. capital — money
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. cold — not warm
  23. capital — a city
  24. lean — thin

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com